War Storm: Entrance Through The Gates
Previous Chapter - Rising Dawn: Dreading Darkness Following It had gotten dark in Genosha, many were now asleep and in their warm beds, unaware that in the deep dark shadows, young Fiona was seen running through the shadows, aiming towards her destination as she made sure none of the other breakers would spot her just yet. In her mind, she knew that lying to her only sister was wrong, but she would do anything to make sure she would feel happiness once again, even if it meant making sure she would be safe from their own mother. Though she had left later than the others sent to fight Nature Hunter, she arrived at the guilds location just behind her companions. This was mostly do to her having first hand experience navigating the vast lands of Genoshia, but also because she could never forget the place she had grown up in, even if it held only painful memories for her. She felt her stomach grow heavy; and looked through the trees to see Jayapura performing the ritual to keep the area under control for the time being. "Oh no, I can't let him know I'm here..." She said with concern in her voice as she looked around for anything that might help her get to her destination as Fiona saw another path, quickly going to it quietly as she saw that it was a very steep cliff. A thick yellow fog below deterred any thoughts of finding an alternate rout, though a dull rumbling soon drew her attention away. She looked up to see an eruption in the distance, which soon took on a humanoid shape. She recognised this magic; a type of parameter defence her mother developed to keep her guild safe. It slowly turned to look in their direction, but froze in place as a bridge of rocks rose from below the cliff, and her fellow guild members charging towards the guild. "May the spirits be with you" She heard Jayapura say under his breath. Soon a swarm of monsters emerged from the guild, soaring at her companions with incredible speed. Rocks began shooting up to intercept them, doing little to thin out their numbers, until the path they had been using suddenly took to the air. Her comrades from Blazing Soul shot through the air, seemingly propelled by a torrent of fire beneath them as the guild's ace Zumma remained behind to fight the swarm. Fiona looked in sadness as she saw that her allies were fighting agains these new abominations that her mother had created, wishing she could fight, but did not want to reveal herself until he had to or else her mission would be a failure. Her heart jumped when she heard a crash of thunder, and looked back towards the guild to see the rock most of her guild mates had been using as a transport had been shot from the sky by a bolt of lightning. She looked on, horrified at the thought of what had happened to her friends. Another crash drew Fiona's attention, and Zumma was in the midst of a battle with several of her mothers monstrosity's, seemingly oblivious to what had just happened to their companions. She decided to try and help them in someway without being seen as she went through the shadows, trying to get closer and closer to the battle. An opportunity presented itself in the midst of the chaos, and Fiona jumped from the bushes to make a break for Nature Hunter. She ran along the path Zumma had created, relatively ignored by the monsters that surrounded them until she was close enough to smell them. Fiona extended a field of Slowing Magic around everything in the area, using her Velocity Magic at the same time to slip by the guild ace as fast as she could. Fiona thought she had heard Zumma call after her, but looked over her shoulder to see him still fighting as if he hadn't even noticed her. Even as her magic field faded away, the monsters ignored her as she charged towards the dark guild. And more importantly her mother Sabriel. ---- Though it was an impromptu landing, Rift crashed through one of the outer walls of Nature Hunter, rolling a few times before coming to a stop. A pair of swords jumped into his hands and he prepared for a fight, but thankfully the hallway was devoid of anyone else. He took a second to take in his surroundings, before hearing the sound of glass breaking and turning to intercept whatever was coming. He was relieved however to see June crouched a few yards down the hallway, having crashed through a window and landing in a similar manor to he. She jumped back when she sensed him approach, but quickly softened her expression when she realised it was him. "Well that was fun." Rift announced, dropping his swords and holding June against his chest for a moment. "You made it in ok, right June? No surprises?" "Nothing bad, just my spleen" She said joking around before she slammed her fist down into the ground, sending a powerful bolt of lightning through the floor as it managed to shock some of the guardians that were coming after her. "The others must've been seperated, we need to keep with the original plan, come on I know a short cut!" She said sending a blast of lightning as she grabbed Rift's hand and began leading him through the long hallways. "Think I saw Leo come down on the roof." He said as they rounded a corner. "And Terra smashed through one of the walls on a lower floor just before i did." A pair of guards exited a door and spotted them running at them, but Rift tackled the door closed on one and came down on the other with a devastating punch to the head, knocking them both out cold in one motion. "You see the others?" "Raven and his fan must've entered from another side, but for right now, we have more pressing concerns to deal with." June said shooting out more lighting as she looked towards Rift, "Come on, we're almost to the spot!". Rift nodded and followed after her, taking in the layout of the guild when he had time between fighting guards and making sure they didn't get lost. "So, this ain't bothering you?" He asked bluntly. "I mean, this place doesn't exactly hold a lot of good memories for ya'." "I am not too thrilled about running through these halls, no. But my personal feelings in this mission don't matter, all we need to focus on is dealing with Sabriel, and ending the bitch once and for all...." June said in a very cold tone before slamming one of the grunts coming towards them hard into the ground, snapping his neck as the others came towards them to end them. "You know-." Rift paused to deal with another guard, slamming their head into the wall next to him. "That's the attitude that'll make you feel hollow after we dealt with all this." He stopped again to shoulder check yet another guard into the wall, slamming his elbow across their face when he rebounded back. "Bet ya' that's why Kat stayed back at the Breakers guild with Fiona. She'll probably have realized that a long time ago." "Better for us" She replied kicking another into the wall, "This way we can end it and she will feel better" June replied with determination as she looked to see a door, "It's this way to her office" June told Rift as the two jumped forward, busting down the door with ease, only to be slammed apart by some unknown force, sending them both flying into two sides of the walls as June coughed a bit of blood from it. Somewhat dazed from the impact, Rift rolled out of the way as something crashed into the wall above him. He looked back to see a muscular grey skinned human leering at him, glowing red eyes seemingly burning into his soul. It growled at them as it's massive fist pulled out from the wall, and Rift grinned back to match it. "Friend of yours June?" "Hehe not exactly. Meet Groot, an annoying piece of mindless crap that only obeys the bitch..." She said sending down a lightning attack that shocked him, but made him turn his attetion to her as he slammed down, sending a rock wave towards her. June rolled out of the way of the rock wave just as Rift came on Groot's head with a large metal bat. It did little to damage him, or so I appeared, and only bounced back in Rift's hands. Groot swung his hand over his head, more like he was swatting at a bug than anything; which knocked Rift back against the wall. He dropped the bat, having bent sideways from the impact, and shook the numbness out of his hand. "Hey there Groot. Nice to meet you." He said with a sarcastic grin. "GGGRRRAAAHHH!!!!* Groot simply slammed with both hands, sending a powerful shock wave through the area, knocking both Rift and June down as he roared again. "Trying to talk to him is like talking to a wall, all he knows is attack anyone who doesn't wear the emblem!" June said looking back as Groot began his charge for another attack. "Talking to a wall huh?" Rift repeated, rolling to the side a moment later to doge Groot's charge. "Good to know." Groot broke through the wall this time; spilling into what looked like a laboratory of sorts, strange machines and piping lining the lab's higher ceiling. Rift slowly followed after, stepping around the fallen debris and cracking his knuckles in the palm of his hand. "Come on June, let's get you some payback." Before June could reply, Groot quickly slam his hands together with full force, creating a powerful shock wave that actually broke the sound barrier, creating a sonic boom that knocked both of them through the walls, eventually stopping at one of the natural reserves inside the guild. "Owie... Did you hear something like tiny bells ringing??!!" June said disorinted as she tried to get up from the rubble she was under. "What!?" Rift shouted, even though he was sitting right next to June. "Sorry, can't hear you over this damn ringing!" He rolled back on his feet, holding a hand over one of his ears, and helped June up as Groot charged again. Rift grinned, placing his fist in his palm. "Iron-Make: Grand Shot!" A trio of blades extended from between Rift's fingers, all racing at the now charging Groot. June added her electricity with the blades as they managed to pierce groot's skin, electrifiying him as he roared in pain, but stomped hard as it sent a powerful rock wave towards them both, which was the blocked by Rift's Iron-Make magic, quickly creating a shield to defend them. Rift followed up by vaulting over his shield and creating a hammer in his hands. He struck Groot square in the jaw, not hard enough to knock him out, but just enough to stun him a little. "Damn shame you know." He quipped as Groot stumbled back against a wall. "Geno and Terra would've had the time of their lives fighting a prick like this." Meeting the Monster In another part of the of the guild, Terra was dealing with her own problems. Her opponent appeared to be a humanoid shaped person, wrapped around in what appeared to be stealth-like clothing. Every attempted to attack him ended with him disappearing from sight as the rock around him was manipulated, sending a barrage of throwing stars that aimed at her. She smiled at the threat, seemingly only half interested in her current enemy. "Palm Revolution!" She spun on her heel with her arms stretched out, emitting a wave of magic around herself that ether knocked the stone projectiles away or shattered them upon impact. after a full spin, Terra came to a stop and ducked under one last throwing star, before scanning over the area for her opponent. "Come now sir hunter. There is no honor in throwing stones in a fight." "Who needs honor? I only seek victory at any cost" He said in the shadows as suddenly two tentacle-like earth whips appeared from right under her, attempting to hold her down tightly as she looked upward to see a spiked part of the ceiling attempting to come down right on top of her. Terra looked up at the falling ceiling and sighed. "You are no challenge." She flexed the fingers of her bandaged arm, before curling them in her knuckles. "Air Palm Cannon!" She thrust her arm upwards, sending out a shockwave that blasted the falling ceiling in half and letting the two parts fall on ether side of her. "Is this really all you can do?" She asked, smashing the rock around her legs. "Don't overestimate yourself" He said right next to her ear as he was right behind her, holding a combat knife close to her throat, "You talk too much and lack talent" He said before attempting to slit her throat. Just as he was about to move his hand across her neck, he felt Terra's hand on his wrist, crushing it in her grip. "As do you, sir hunter." She slammed the back of her head into her opponent's face, spun to the side and elbowed him under the arm, and spun again to deliver a strong palm thrust to the center of his chest. He shot backwards through the air, bouncing off the far wall and tumbling to the ground a moment later. Terra took a moment to brush some brick dust off that had accumulated on her bandaged right arm, before sensing someone approaching from one of the hallways behind her. She spun instinctively, taking a fighting stance in anticipation of another assailant, but was surprised to see the young Leo skidding to a halt just behind her. "Whoa. Hey it's me." She lowered her arms, sensing that Leo had not been followed while Leo looked around the room to see if any of their companions where with her. "Have been with any of the others?" "I am afraid not companion Leo." She admitted, clasping her hands behind her back while she too looked around. "This guild dose not appear to house any particularly interesting combatants ether. Such a shame." She said in a somewhat disappointed tone. "None that we've met at least." Leo corrected. "Just keep your eyes open. Dad said this guild master likes to use curses and traps wherever she can. And I don't want to be the guy who sets one off." Terra found it strange that Leo was explaining this to her. At almost twelve years his elder, she was fully aware of what to expect. She only smiled however, letting Leo take the lead as the pair of them explored the innards of Nature Hunter. However, before the duo could even get further into the area, the walls suddenly started moving as the earth continued to attempt to kill the two as they saw the assassin still alive and well. "He's quite the tenacious one isn't he?" Terra asked, sidestepping a pillar of rock as it crashed down between them. She cartwheeled over another as it swept low at her legs. "Shale we combat him together companion Leo?" "This isn't a game dammit!" Leo cried, to preoccupied with dodging to really keep up the conversation. "Orbiter!" A sphere of light surrounded Leo as another pillar crashed into him, braking into pieces on impact. The dust cleared a moment later to reveal Leo relatively unharmed, and prepped for a counterattack. "Strato Burst!" with a wave of his hand, a barrage of tiny lights shot towards their pursuer. However, the beams of light seemed to have disappeared as suddenly two more appeared from the side of him, "You failed to realize this from the start, that we three, will share in your horrid demise" The triplets said as they slammed their hands into the ground to send a powerful rock wave towards the beams of light, intercepting them and continuing towards them in an attempt to bury them. Acting quickly, a whirling disk of light formed in each of Leo's outstretched hands, which he tossed at the wall of earth bearing down on him. "Celestial Rings!" He called, as the discs carved through the rock and shot at the triplets. Surrounding himself in light, he took to the air to avoid the wave of earth, before clasping his hands together and drawing out a long spear of light from the air. "Sagitta!" He threw it at the center sibling, ensuring they all had an attack to deal with now. One of the triplets blocked the incoming attacks with a Wave Barrier, while the next two sent out powerful Lightning magic strikes at actually bounced across the area as they both attempted to strike Leo down. Leo dodged and rolled his way through the lightning, crashing down hard on the center sibling's head with both feet. The others turned to attack again, but Leo moved faster. "Strato Burst!" More lights poured out from each hand, battering the remaining triplets to the ground. After looking around to confirm that the fight was over now, Leo heard someone clapping behind him, and turned to see Terra applauding his recent victory. "That was magnificent companion Leo." He stepped off of the last sibling as she began to pat him on the back. "You will truly make a strong leader one day." Ignoring her complement, Leo took a few seconds to catch his breath before glairing up at her. "You could have helped too you know." He brushed Terra's hand off his shoulder, finally getting his breathing under control. "Take this seriously, will you?" "Nonsense, it was your fight to win." She responded with a smile, taking Leo under her arm and marching down the hallway again. "Come, we still have a fight to commence." It was Terra's turn to lead them both through the dark guild, despite Leo attempting to push out from Terra's hold. Moving deeper into the guild, the pair of them suddenly felt a strong wave of magic pass over them; strange, yet familiar. Leo was unable to pinpoint it's source, or who it belonged to exactly. But Terra recognized it instantly, quickening their pace towards it's location. Moments later, they turned a corner to see the silver haired Raven Tyran peering into a door along one of the guild's many corridors. He saw them the instant they saw him, and held up a finger to silence them both. Slowly, as the others creeped towards him, he gestured into the crack of the slightly open door. "Check it out." Leo peered in to see what looked like a large lab of sorts, seeing only a single woman working within. She seemed familiar somehow, and it took a moment for Leo to remember where he knew her from. Then it clicked, one of his sisters drawings, one she showed him after they had rescued Fiona from her and Kat's mother. This was her, this was the witch Sabriel Gulwick. His expression confirmed it to the others, as Leo was pushed aside by Raven just as he himself was about to enter. Terra and Leo watched him brush the door open with his shoulder and stroll into the lab with his hands in his pockets and an evil grin on his face. "So, you the boss 'round here?" He asked, apparently completely unafraid. In the middle of the laboratory was Sabriel as she was focusing on her latest experiment, looking over slightly to see her uninvited guests staring at her as she worked. "Worthless husks, they couldn't even defeat weak creatures such as yourselves... Useless creations, useless guild members, this entire reality is useless, and I will make sure to end it once and for all after I eradicate you worthless mages!" She said as her energy started to increase as then her assistant began to emerge from the skull that was next to her as he looked at them. "Yeah." Raven looked over his shoulder at the others with a grin and half opened eyes. "This be the one." Both Leo and Terra entered the room after him, with Leo standing up in front of Raven. "Sabriel Gulwick. We are mages from Blazing Soul, here by request of Phantom Breaker to stop you." Raven sighed at Leo, while Terra chuckled at his attempts. "Surrender now and-." "Aw, screw formality." Raven interrupted, shoving Leo aside. "Let's get it on witch!" He shot out his hand, and a massive torrent of flames raged towards Sabriel, scorching the ground and instantly raising the temperature of the air in the lab. Sabriel send out a powerful shrieking from her staff as it caused a powerful shock wave, while Muerte focused his chains into the ground of the lab in an attempt to hit or bind them. Leo and Terra ran in opposite directions, sidestepping and vaulting over every chain along the way. Raven meanwhile held up his other hand, intensifying the flames and instantly melting any of Muerte's chains whenever they got too close. Molten metal sprayed in all directions, shot upwards from the updraft Raven had created with his flames. A spurt of liquid metal splattered at Leo's feet, causing him to stop abruptly for fear of being burned. "Dammit Raven, what the hell are you doing?" Raven was to preoccupied with his clash to answer, he didn't even hear him over the sound of his own laughter. His and Sabriel's attacks pushed back and forth, until Raven swung his arms out to the side, and they both dissipated in a blistering hot wave of air. Raven took a few breaths, a small grin creeping it's way across his face, as a dull red glow faded from his stomach. "Oh, we're going to have a great time." He repositioned his feet, readying for a fight, as the air around him distorted with the heat he was giving off. "Come on lady. Let's have us a fight to remember." "A very rudimentary waste. No matter, once I end your miserable life I will make good use of the Lacrima in your body" Sabriel said slamming her staff as it suddenly engulfed the earth with flames, making it swarm around Raven. Raven's eye twitched as fire surrounded him, surprised that Sabriel could tell he had an implanted Lacrima after just one attack. He got over it however, and dispelled her flames with a wave of his hand, summoning up whatever remained into the palm of his hand and extinguishing it in his fist. "How'd you figure out I got one of those?" "This isn't the time Raven." Leo called from above them. Having surrounded himself in light, Leo now hovered close to the lab's high sealing with a buzzing disk of light in each hand. "Celestial Rings!" He cried, sending a disk each at Sabriel and Muerte. Muerte sent out a powerful barrier of chains as the saw attempted to attack, but was blocked by the chains as they were much heavier than before. Leo flew backwards as his attack burned itself out, and Muerte looked back just in time to dodge a powerful palm strike Terra launched at his torso. He spun out of the way, and had to jump back to avoid Terra's follow-up of a low leg sweeping kick. Terra continued her spin with the momentum of her kick and shot out her hand once she faced him again. "Air Palm Cannon!" Muerte was about to be hit, but a sonic scream pushed Leo into a wall as he looked over to see Sabrial holding her staff. "I am on my last nerve Muerte. Finish off these pests, leave the one with the lacrima to me." She said as he bowed in respect, before attempting to go on the offensive. "Terra! "Take the old man's kid and find somewhere else to throw down!" Raven called to her, just as she reengaged Muerte in close combat. She pushed away for a second, and looked past her opponent to see Raven grinning over his shoulder at her. "Think i'm going to need a bit more space for this one." Terra smiled as Muerte bared down on her with a fireball in each hand. But instead of blocking or dodging, she simply jumped back a ways to where Leo was recovering and swept him up with one arm. "Come companion Leo, master Raven is about to do battle with the witch." Any protest Leo had soon disappeared with him through one of the lab's many doors and down the hallway. Muerte grunted as he followed, apparently annoyed that he had to chase down his opponents. Raven kept his attention on Sabriel however, even as the door behind him shut itself behind Muerte. "So. You took an interest in me than?" He asked mockingly, gesturing to his stomach. "Man, Clair's going to throw a damn fit if she get's wind of this." "Now that the small fish are gone, it is just us my precious" Sabriel said as she sent out another attack, which was dodged this time as they began their own fight. ---- Meanwhile back at the Phantomm Breaker guild, the group was shown to be holding their own, as Minerva Orland (Phantombeast) was seen leading one of the creatures away as she used territory to crush them. Just as she was about to activate her spell, a larger monster fell through one of the buildings with a swarm of tiny ghost like creatures cutting to ribbons with long claws. Whatever wasn't crushed under the larger monster was immediately shot from the sky by small bolts of magic a moment later. Waylind vaulted over a partly destroyed wall a moment later, and his ghost like pawns lined up with four on ether side of him as he admired the scene. "Well, that seemed to go pretty well. Nothin' we didn't expect right?" "It would seem that the enemy is slowly becoming more and more of a nuisance, have the others reported in yet?" Minerva asked with a worried tone. "Most of 'em are just clearin' up these... Things." Waylind nudged one of the fallen monster's corpses with his foot. "My chess pieces and your guild mates are still bringin' down some of the bigger ones, but it's just a mop up operation at this point." "We're still one short though." Both Minerva and Waylind looked up at one of the rooftops to see Peltin making his way down to ground level. "Somewhere in all this bullshit, kitten ducked out on us after wiping out half a district's worth of monsters." They heard one of the monsters begin to stir, which Peltin promptly dealt by shooting it on the head. "Probably off after little sis." Both mages seemed surprised by the news. Not that Kat had gone after Fiona, but that she did so before the battle in the city had culminated. Minerva looked up at the sky and sighed. "Don't do anything stupid..."''She silently prayed before returning to battle with the others. '''Next Chapter - Ultimate Experiment: Wrath of Nature' Category:Phantombeast Category:Flame Lizard Category:Death Battle vs The Nature Hunters Category:Roleplay Category:Chapters